Blood on the Stones
by Quingy
Summary: On a quest through the Deep Roads, Surana's companions are overwhelmed by darkspawn, and Alistair is seriously injured. In desperation, Surana turns to blood magic for the first time to save their lives. Inspired by Rhea Surana from my story, Beloved. Characters belong to Bioware.


The first time it happened, they were in the Deep Roads. Far from any chance of rescue, Surana watched as one by one her companions fell. Oghren went down, outnumbered by a pack of shrieks. Morrigan was caught in the swarm spell of a Hurlock Emissary. Surana watched an Ogre grab Alistair in one fist, and toss him aside. She heard the sickening crack of his armour against the rocks. Beside her, Barkspawn took a Genlock Rogue's arrow in the side and whined, but remained standing.

 _Let us help you,_ the demons whispered. _Let us in._

"NO!" Surana screamed a scream of fury and defiance. She would not become an abomination, but neither would she watch her friends die down here.

As the Ogre advanced on Alistair's unconscious form, and the Shrieks surrounded her and her wounded mabari, Surana savagely slashed her arm, scarlet blood spraying across the tiles of the Deep Roads. The demons pressed closer towards her, looking for an opening, but Surana would not let them in. She focused the power, and bound the demons to her will.

Around her, several Rage Demons materialized. They set the Shrieks on fire, even as Surana focused her energy on boiling the blood of the Ogre before it could reach Alistair. One of the Rage Demons set a stream of fire on the Ogre, and Surana turned to the Emissary which still held Morrigan prisoner, and bound it into her service, using it to finish off the Ogre and the Genlock that had shot Barkspawn before the rage demons killed it.

Breathing heavily, and still dripping blood onto the stones, Surana surveyed the destruction, even as she banished the Rage Demons. Around her were dark scorch marks in the ground from the appearance of the demons, and the burnt corpses of four Shrieks. The Ogre and Emissary corpses were also burned and surrounded by scorch marks, and the small chamber stank of brimstone and ash over everything else, the remnants of the demons. Barkspawn whined softly, lying down.

Morrigan approached her as Surana looked around, dazed. "Here," she said, removing a poultice from her pack. She began to tend to the wound on Surana's arm.

"Morrigan…"

"There is no need to explain," Morrigan said, meeting her eyes dead on as she carefully applied the healing herbs. "We surely would have perished down here had you not acted as you did." She nodded towards Alistair and Surana exhaled sharply as she remembered the Ogre throwing him across the room. "You may require a different explanation for Alistair, however," she commented disdainfully.

Morrigan had hardly finished wrapping the poultice when Surana tore away from her and slid to her knees at Alistair's side. Behind her, she was vaguely aware of Morrigan checking on Oghren. "Ugh, even when he is unconscious the dwarf's breath is foul," she complained.

Alistair's eyes were closed, and Surana carefully checked his head for any injury. His helmet had fallen off in the collision, and was lying several feet away. It looked mostly undamaged. From what she could tell, he had taken most of the impact on his shoulder, and that section of his armour was badly broken. The impact had also been enough to knock him out.

"Morrigan!" Surana called. "I need help!" She was wary of moving him, but they would need to, she could not look after him properly here. And they needed to get him out of that armour. Barkspawn limped to her side and whined at the sight of Alistair unconscious.

"Argh…" Oghren grumbled groggily, apparently having awoken. "How many did I take with me?" He belched and the sound bounced off the walls of the chamber. "Hell of a fight." An amused bark of laughter followed. "Oh, I need a drink."

"The dwarf survives," Morrigan commented, sounding slightly disappointed. She approached Surana, Barkspawn and Alistair. After studying Alistair for a moment she made a thoughtful noise. "We could simply camp here for the night," she suggested. At Surana's doubtful expression she explained. "This chamber is rather secluded. The darkspawn you killed were the last in the area, I suspect. You're the Grey Warden. You tell me, do you sense any more nearby?"

Surana closed her eyes and tried to focus past the weakness in her body, past the pain in her arm, past the demons who still lingered around her, whispering to her. She tried to focus on individual darkspawn, more than the constant call of the Archdemon, the singing that had been getting louder and louder every day they spent down here, the further they travelled.

"I...I don't think so," she said. "It's nearly impossible to tell down here, there are so many. It's like trying to listen to a single whisper in a room full of gossiping mages." At Morrigan's blank look, Surana sighed. "It doesn't matter."

"It is still likely better to keep him here for the night than to try to move him," Morrigan pressed, "better than running into another ambush when we are all tired. The mongrel also needs to be tended to." Barkspawn whined piteously and Morrigan ignored him, she gave Surana a knowing look, and Surana sighed. It was nearly impossible to argue with Morrigan. She could never understand why Alistair kept trying.

Oghren stumbled up behind them, taking a long swig from his ever present flask and then belching again. "I hear right?" he asked. "We camping for the night?"

"So it would seem," Surana agreed.

Several hours later, Surana sat by Alistair's side, watching carefully for any sign that he would wake. A low fire crackled nearby, and Oghren was snoring heavily beside it, having drunk until he passed out. Morrigan sat nearby, preparing more lyrium potions for the next day. Every once in a while she would shoot a glare at the snoring dwarf. Barkspawn was lying on Alistair's other side, clearly worried. They had removed the arrow from his side and bandaged it; fortunately it was a relatively minor injury.

They had removed Alistair's armour, and found that his shoulder was dislocated, though not broken. His ribs were bruised from the Ogre as well, but he had no internal injuries. Morrigan had managed to set his shoulder, and Oghren had agreed to help fix the armour as best he could the next morning, as none of them were entirely sure Alistair would be up for it.

"I should have brought Wynne," Surana said worriedly, replacing the cloth on Alistair's forehead.

Morrigan scoffed. "What good would that have done?"

"Neither of us can heal, Morrigan," Surana replied. "Your herbs are useful but…"

"Yes, I'm sure Wynne would have been extremely useful to have around in the aftermath of your demon-summoning. She would surely have thanked you for saving her life, and not immediately denounced you a Maleficar," Morrigan's scathing tone oozed contempt for the older mage. "Your actions saved our lives, and I won't have you think otherwise."

Surana said nothing. If Wynne had been there, it was possible she would never have needed to resort to blood magic in the first place. _Unless that swarm spell had trapped her, too._

Allowing the conversation to drop, Morrigan went back to her work, and Surana's eyes returned to Alistair.

She had not intentionally fallen asleep, but exhaustion had overtaken her eventually. She found herself in a darker area of the fade then she had ever been in before. A cave that smelled of death and where there was no light or life to be found. Only demons. Their whispers surrounded her, _Powerful, yes, we could be even more powerful._

 _Proud, so proud this one._

 _So tired, you seem so tired young one._

Some were louder than others. A fear demon, a variety she never saw outside of the fade, its many arms reaching towards her like it was going to suck her in, this was his realm, she thought. Terror demons were all around, and from them she heard Alistair screaming. Alistair dying.

 _He's going to die,_ the fear demon told her. _He will never wake up. You will all die alone in the Deep Roads, one by one._

She tripped backwards away from them and then the fade realm morphed around her. From one step to the next she moved out of the dark, despair infested cave, into a light, beautiful paradise. Other dreamers were here, she saw. This was a place of good dreams.

A desire demon approached her, in the form of a beautiful, naked elven male. He had long dark hair and bright eyes, pale lavender skin, and his voice was so lovely she took a step towards him when he began to speak, " _I can save his life_."

"He's not dying," she said, but her voice sounded uncertain to her own ears.

" _As you dream here, his spirit drifts further from his body."_ The demon stroked it's abs in a suggestive manner. " _I can save him."_

"I'm not a child, untrained. You can't manipulate me."

" _Nor would I try,"_ the demon said agreeably. _"Though we both know you are not above working with spirits when you need to, else, you would not be alive."_

Surana never got the chance to reply, because she was shaken roughly awake by Morrigan. Barkspawn was whining in agitation. "What's wrong?" Surana asked, looking around. The fire had been stamped out and Oghren was standing nearby, his Warhammer gripped in his hands.

"Something is approaching," Morrigan hissed. She passed one of the newly prepared lyrium potions to Surana and said, "Ready yourself."

Surana pocketed the lyrium potion, grabbed her staff and got to her feet as quietly as possible, it did not seem whatever it was knew where they were yet. She glanced nervously at Alistair, still unconscious and thought of what the desire demon had told her. _As you dream here, his spirit drifts further from his body._ Shaking her head, Surana focused.

As far as she could tell, whatever was approaching them was not darkspawn. "It's Deepstalkers or spiders," she whispered to the others. "Not darkspawn."

"Argh," Oghren made an unhappy noise. "I hate spiders. Always trying to trap us in their webs... A lot like Branka."

"We have nothing to fear from spiders," Morrigan retorted. She drank one of the lyrium potions, and closed her eyes. There was a bright white light, and she transformed into a spider. Oghren stumbled backwards so quickly he tripped and fell on his ass.

A sound that must have been the equivalent of spider laughter came from Morrigan and she clicked her pincers menacingly in his direction. Barkspawn growled at her as she skittered away. Surana was unsure if they should follow.

 _You will all die alone in the Deep Roads, one by one._ "I'm going after her," she announced.

"Are you daft, woman?" Oghren demanded. "I draw the line at chasing giant spiders into dark corners."

"Stay here and guard Alistair, then," she told him. She didn't wait for him to respond, but ran off in the direction Morrigan had gone, Barkspawn at her heels.

She heard the sounds of fighting before she saw them, and when she rounded the corner into the next tunnel she found Morrigan was faced not with spiders, but with a horde of Deepstalkers. In spider form, she was greatly outnumbered.

"Morrigan!" Surana yelled. She pulled the lyrium potion out of her pocket and chugged it, feeling the burst of revitalizing mana as if she had drank liquid magic. Barkspawn charged ahead, tackling several Deepstalkers off of Morrigan.

 _The lyrium isn't enough,_ the demons whispered. _Blood will always be stronger. Let us help…._

She ignored them and shot a fireball past Barkspawn and into the concentration of Deepstalkers. No longer swarmed, a flash of light surrounded Morrigan as she shapeshifted into a much more formidable bear. She and Barkspawn charged the Deepstalkers. Their remnants, no longer as assured of victory over a lone target, disappeared back into the tunnels.

Barkspawn and Morrigan made their way together back to Surana before Morrigan shapeshifted again in a flash of white light. "On second thought," she said in a thin voice, "perhaps that was not the best plan."

"I don't know," Surana said in a teasing voice. "I think you taught those Deepstalkers there can be a _lot_ to fear from spiders."

It was technically Oghren's turn to take watch. Morrigan was sleeping nearby, exhausted from the recent fight. The fire was once again crackling, and Surana knew she should be taking this time to rest. Barkspawn knew it too, because he kept nuzzling up against her leg and whining at her pitifully.

She could not bring herself to fall asleep again, knowing that she would have to deal with demons taunting her in the fade. It had never been this bad before, using blood magic had made her all the more attractive to them. Every demon seemed to want a piece of her now, where before the smarter ones had accepted she was a lost cause.

 _This is how weaker mages fall to temptation,_ she thought. She knew, rationally, she couldn't avoid sleeping forever. They had a limited amount of lyrium potions, and without sleeping she would be too tired to use magic without them. _If I don't sleep, the chances of needing to use blood magic again will only increase._

Oghren had been watching her for a while. "Need some of ol' Oghren's brew to help you sleep, Warden?" He held out his flask across the fire.

She considered for only a minute before accepting. He laughed his loud cackle of a laugh. "That's the stuff, should knock you right to the stone."

She paused before she took a sip. "When mages sleep, we go to the fade, Oghren."

"All you surfacers go there?" Oghren asked. He shivered. "Unnatural."

"Mages are awake in our dreams, non-mages aren't."

Oghren seemed very disturbed by this. The only sound for a while was the crackle of the fire, and Morrigan and Alistair's soft breathing. Eventually he said. "Whenever I drink enough of my brew, I don't remember anything. Maybe that'll work for you and your fade-dreams, Warden."

"Maybe," she agreed hopefully. She took a long chug of his flask and had to fight not to immediately spit it back out. Oghren howled with laughter at her expression. When she managed to swallow she grumbled, "That tastes like tainted deep-mushrooms. Did you brew this down here?"

"I might have," he admitted. "But I don't use the tainted ones. I'm not daft enough to become a ghoul."

"Ugh," she complained. "I'm going to be ill."

"Elf-vomit!" he exclaimed, giggling. "Hot!"

"Ugh."

Surana did start to drift off an hour later, after she emptied her stomach of whatever it was that Oghren made his brew with. She curled up next to the fire with Barkspawn lying at her feet, and closed her eyes.

She was back in the desire demon's realm, and he had been waiting for her. _"How is your lover doing?"_ the demon asked.

"He's not dead yet," Surana answered.

 _"He will be before you wake."_

Surana had never been particularly religious. She did not have faith in many things, she believed in her magic, and she believed in those she loved.

She knew that if she made a deal with a demon to save Alistair's life, and it worked, he would never forgive her. Alistair believed in the Maker, and the Chant of Light, and she respected that.

"If it is the Maker's will for Alistair to die in the Deep Roads tonight," she said. "Then it is not my place to intervene, demon."

Surana was shaken awake once more, and fully expected to again be under attack by the inhabitants of the Deep Roads. This time, it was not Morrigan who woke her. It was a handsome face with lovely brown eyes. "Rhea," he said.

Her eyes filled with tears and she threw her arms around his neck. "You stupid oaf," she complained. "How could you get thrown by an Ogre like that?"

He hugged her back. "I honestly don't really remember," he laughed.

When they separated he looked around the cavern. "What happened down here? How did we survive? The Ogre… and that Emissary… those scorch marks…." His eyes narrowed, the look of a Templar recognizing blood magic.

"I…" Rhea said, even as he noticed the bandage on her arm.

"She was attacked by shrieks, as was the dwarf, shortly after you saw fit to get tossed about like a rag-doll," Morrigan interrupted, stalking towards them from across the fire. "As the only one left standing, I summoned several demons to save our lives."

Alistair leapt to his feet. "YOU DID WHAT?!" he yelled.

Morrigan raised an eyebrow at him. "Before you think to yell at me and my evil Maleficar ways, remember that you and your beloved would both have perished, forgotten down here had it not been for me." She looked at Surana with only the hint of a smile. "I'm going to take the mongrel and check the perimeter before we pack up."

Barkspawn jumped up and followed Morrigan into the darkness. Alistair turned to Surana. "I can't believe…she...you...blood magic...demon summoning…."

"Alistair," Surana said, standing beside him.

"Yes?" he replied hesitantly.

"I love you."

He sighed. "And I, you," he said, and kissed her.

Behind them there was a giggle. "That's hot."


End file.
